Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Run Yuhao, RUN!
"I am Zhou Yi, and I am the teacher in charge of your class. I'm not sure how many of you will be able to keep up with me for the following year, but I have to tell you something: in my class, trash can't pass my assessments. I want to cultivate monsters, not idiots."
The moment she said those words with a stern expression, almost everyone's faces changed. They had passed the entrance assessment that enabled them to become students of Shrek Academy, and had been carefully selected from various countries and high ranking families on the continent.
Amongst their peers, they could be described to be 'elite'.
But instead of being praised or pampered by their teacher, they were instead labeled as 'trash' and 'idiot'. How could these proud children take this slight to their face without reaction?
However, Huo Yuhao was extremely calm. Not because he had such low self-esteem of himself that he accepted teacher Zhou Yi's words or he was an idiot and didn't listen to a word she was saying. But because he was confident in himself that he would excel and exceed his teachers and everyone's expectations.
It was the pride and dignity he gained from knowing his eyes' capabilities, the Sharingan.
"Before we start our lessons for this morning, let me ask you all something." Zhou Yi's gaze wandered on all the students, making them nervous. "Those who've gotten into a fight during these past few days of enrollment, stand up."
Everyone was stunned. This was just the first day of school, and yet before any lessons started some people had the audacity to start something? This is Shrek Academy for Sea God's sake! This was the Holy Land for all young soul masters and disrespecting it meant losing their chance of greatness.
Everyone waited for bated breaths. None dared make a noise.
However, the silence was broken by a scraping sound of a chair sliding back and everyone immediately turned towards Huo Yuhao, who calmly stared back at the piercing gaze of teacher Zhou Yi.
His classmates were all stunned.
'What is that idiot thinking?' Wang Dong thought to himself incredulously. Not willing to be outdone, he also stood up.
Huo Yuhao didn't stand up because he was honest, caved under peer pressure, or a plain idiot. He stood up because he sensed through teacher Zhou Yi's line of thinking.
He felt like she was faintly similar to Ancestor teachings capabilities, one who doesn't play with common sense.
A moment later and he was proven correct.
"Only two?" Zhou Yi raised her eyebrows and loudly snorted. "Truly a group of trash. Don't tell me you didn't know that not daring to provoke others is a sign of mediocrity? Other than these two, everyone else go outside and run a hundred laps around Shrek Plaza. Anyone who can't finish these one hundred laps will be directly expelled."
In an instant everyone was stunned, even Huo Yuhao. Expectedly the other students went into an uproar. This was their first day of school after all, and classes haven't started yet. Who would accept getting punished like this?
One of the students immediately stood up. "Teacher, I refuse to accept this. Why do we have to be punished for not fighting?"
Zhou Yi indifferently replied, "Because I said so. If you're not willing to accept this, you can screw off. As a teacher, I have the authority to expel any student I want. I'll give you one minute. If I don't see all of you running around Shrek Plaza within that minute, all of you will be expelled."
As she spoke, a terrifying aura was suddenly released from her body. The powerful soul power undulations caused every single student to be choked by the pressure. Following that, soul rings started to rise from Zhou Yi's feet. Two yellow, two purple, and two black soul rings burst forth with a strong aura that was hard to describe.
'A soul emperor!' Huo Yuhao's eyes flashed with gold and red, unconsciously activating his Sharingan. But with his impeccable control of his soul power he managed to hide his soul ring by having it stay around his feet.
Besides Ancestor and Brother Skydream, this was the first true expert he'd seen in the physical world. Furthermore, she had two ten thousand year soul rings. If she wanted to take care of the hundred students in front of her, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it would be as easy as flexing her fingers.
'Hmm? His eyes....How interesting.' Zhou Yi slightly raised an eyebrow, seeing his strange eyes that remained steady and calm despite feeling her aura, he gave her a good impression. 'Looks like there's a good seedling this year, yet.'
"I'll give you a reminder: you only have two hours. After two hours, the people who haven't finished the hundred laps will be considered to be unqualified. This is your first test after entering the academy, and those unqualified will be expelled." Although she hadn't fuse any soul power in her words, almost all the students trembled with pale faces and quickly ran to the field.
"You two come here." Zhou Yi's expression seemed to have become much warmer as she beckoned towards them.
Wang Dong and Huo Yuhao walked towards her together, of course the latter had already turn off his Sharingan.
Looking at the two of them, Zhou Yi nodded her head in a satisfied manner. Then, she said, "Not bad, at least two of you have some guts. Tell me, who did you fight with, and why did you fight with them?"
Wang Dong was just about to speak, but Huo Yuhao interjected, "Reporting to the teacher, we are roommates. We had a small conflict due to our opposing views."
Zhou Yi's lips curled and said, "You're even roommates? Hah! Fighting is good, but fighting between roommates is the best kind of fighting. You'll have competition this way, and you'll also be able to improve together."
As he stood before Zhou Yi, Wang Dong felt his back become cool as if covered in cold sweat.
'This teacher Zhou Yi, she's too domineering! What kind of teacher makes their students run before teaching them anything?!'
He then glanced at Huo Yuhao, feeling a bit impressed by his calm and collected attitude. Was he just being cool-headed or cocky?
Not really. Huo Yuhao had experienced(suffered) a lot from a certain Ancestor to feel much fear from Zhou Yi. If they were opponents and was in a death match, then Huo Yuhao would fear for his life, but right now she was just his teacher.
Zhou Yi crossed her arms, her aged face even seemed to twitch. "Fighting is a good thing, but I don't really like fighting amongst my own students. Remember, you should fight with students from other classes if you want to start a fight."
"Our Shrek Academy's rules have always been relaxed, and this is for the sake of developing individuality within our students. So we've always turned a blind eye towards the issue of fighting. However, there are certain limits to this. Students from higher year groups aren't allowed to provoke or attack students from lower year groups. If we find out that someone has done this, the punishment is immediate expulsion." Zhou Yi's eyes sharpened, both Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong felt as if they were staring at a sharp blade than a person at that moment.
"However, students from lower year groups can challenge older students, but this requires the presence of a teacher, to ensure the fact that older students aren't simply bullying the younger students. As for students of the same year group, you can fight as you wish. As long as you don't cause any fatal wounds, the school won't interfere at all. Honestly, fighting is an exceptionally good way of increasing your strength." She hummed then nodded to herself.
"If you can reach your second year, you can go to the Soul Duelling Arena to fight. If you win a lot, the school will even reward you. However for now, you two can go run outside with the others."
Wang Dong was stunned. "Teacher, didn't you say that we had guts?"
Zhou Yi still had a smile on her face. "But I never said that you wouldn't need to run!"
"...."
'What the hell's wrong with this teacher?' Wang Dong was dumbfounded and as he wanted to say something, Huo Yuhao had already turned around and walked away.
Staring at his back for a moment, Wang Dong immediately followed after him.
"Hey. Hey! Wait up!"
"What?" Huo Yuhao clicked his tongue.
Wang Dong's right eye twitched. "Aren't you going to say anything to that teacher Zhou Yi?"
Huo Yuhao disgruntledly replied, "Tch. What's the use of complaining to her? I can't fight her or do anything else to her. You still want to stay in Shrek Academy? Then you'll have to follow her orders. Now c'mon, I don't think she was lying about expelling the failures."
Shrek Plaza was right outside the freshman school building. It wasn't considered too big; a single lap was roughly three hundred metres or so. To normal people, running a hundred laps around the plaza was definitely not a simple task. However, to these young students who had the foundation of being a soul master, it wasn't actually that hard. As long as they ran seriously, they'd manage to finish running their hundred laps within two hours.
Despite his gains of increased prowess, Huo Yuhao was still undoubtedly the physically worst out of everyone here, except for the auxiliary type and food type soul masters. So to keep up with the others and succeed in this challenge, he had to maintain a steady pace for a while then burst out with explosive speed before slowing down. This allowed him to conserve his energy while still keeping up with the others.
As he ran, Huo Yuhao's mind began to wander, thinking about the events that had occurred earlier. He couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and determination. He had always believed in his own abilities, but being labeled as "trash" and "idiot" by his teacher had ignited a fire within him. He was determined to prove himself and show everyone that he was not a failure.
At the same time, he couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration for Zhou Yi. Despite her tough love approach, he could see that she was a teacher who truly cared about her students and wanted to push them to their limits. He respected her for not treating them with kid gloves and for having high expectations for their potential.
Wang Dong, on the other hand, had a much easier time than everyone else. With his higher cultivation and physical fitness of his body, he was able to effortlessly run past the other students and maintain a steady pace. He even had the energy to chat with some of his classmates along the way.
During one of his explosive sprints, Huo Yuhao managed to run beside Wang Dong.
Whilst running, Wang Dong suddenly asked Huo Yuhao, "Hey, is your martial soul a spiritual-type martial soul?"
"Hmm." Huo Yuhao nodded, he was going to figure it out anyway so there wasn't a need to hide it.
Wang Dong was stunned, "A spiritual-type martial soul! No wonder I couldn't see what your martial soul was, though I guess it's my fault as well. I was a bit too headstrong to notice what it was and the soul ring. Hey, what rank is your soul power?"
"14, though it'll be 15 by the end of the week. Probably."
Wang Dong almost tripped on himself when he heard his words. Due to that slight error, he was now running behind Huo Yuhao.
"Hmph. What's wrong? Finally realized the gap between us?"
"Ugh…" Wang Dong unhappily replied, "I get it, let's not talk about this anymore. Now I feel slightly bad about wanting a rematch with you, you know that I hadn't used my martial soul when we fought? If I did, hmph! I would've been the one mocking you right now."
Huo Yuhao rolled his eyes, "And you know if I wasn't going to get in trouble, I would've killed you with that kunai right?"
Wang Dong was silent, staring incredulously at him.
"....Are you being serious?"
"Hm."
'Should I try that running technique Ancestor taught me?'
Huo Yuhao went into a strange pose; bending forward, letting his arms down to his sides, he then began running. He ran so fast that he left behind a cloud of dust and a stunned Wang Dong.
"What the–Hey, wait up! I'm not done talking!" Wang Dong cried, taking large strides and heavy breathing to try and catch up, only to see Huo Yuhao zoom passed him.
"How are you doing that?!"
.....
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